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 Editorials | Issues | January 2007 
Mexican Government Condemns Fatal Shooting
 Jonathan Clark - Sierra Vista Herald
| | “We just think there must have been a way to solve this without shooting to kill,” protester Mary Adams said. |
Mexico’s Foreign Relations Secretariat on Saturday condemned the shooting of a Mexican man by a Border Patrol agent near Naco on Friday and said it had instructed its officials in Douglas and Washington to investigate the incident.
“The secretariat expresses it’s profound concern over this type of disproportionate violence that results in the loss of human life,” a news release from the secretariat’s Mexico City headquarters said. “Especially when force is used against people who do not represent a threat to U.S. authorities.” The secretariat said the victim was 22, from the south-central state of Puebla, and traveling with three family members at the time of the shooting.
Cochise County Sheriff’s Department Spokeswoman Carol Capas later identified the victim as Francisco Javier Dominguez-Rivera.
U.S. officials have released few details of the incident, but Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman Jesus Rodriguez said Dominguez-Rivera was among a group of seven people who hopped a border fence near Paul Spur, halfway between Naco and Douglas, at approximately 3 p.m. Friday.
Members of the group apparently threw rocks at a Border Patrol agent who responded to the scene, Border Patrol and Sheriff’s Department officials said. As the agent attempted to detain the group, he was reportedly hit or pushed by Dominguez-Rivera before taking out his gun and shooting.
Rodriguez did not think Dominguez-Rivera or any other members of the group were armed, though he said an investigation into the incident by the Sheriff’s Department and FBI was ongoing.
An autopsy of Dominguez-Rivera is scheduled for Wednesday, Capas said.
The agent, who works out of the Naco Border Patrol station, has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
On Saturday afternoon, a small group of protesters gathered across the street from the Naco station and displayed signs reading “Thou shall not kill” and “No war on migrants.”
“We just think there must have been a way to solve this without shooting to kill,” protester Mary Adams said.
Mike Albon, spokesman for the Tucson Sector Border Patrol agent’s union, was unaware of the details of the shooting. But he suggested that those who are quick to condemn Border Patrol agents don’t understand the pressures they face in the field.
“There are people who understand what’s going on with us, but then again, there are people who don’t,” Albon said.
Jonathan Clark can be reached at 515-4693 or by e-mail at jonathan.clark@bisbeereview.com. |
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